Munna Singh — новинки

Jatropha is a perennial shrub that belongs to the family Euphorbiaceae. The plant grows upto a height of 3–5m, but it can also reach heights of upto 8m under favourable conditions. It is recognized as a bioenergy crop in Mexico,Central America,Brazil,Bolivia,Peru,Argentina,and Paraguay. It is raised on land unsuited to agriculture containing oil content in the seeds ~35% with minimal irrigation and management. These characteristics have led to the scale-up of Jatropha plantations among millions of marginal farmers and landless people across India through attractive schemes. It is expected to be planted on 12.8?106 ha by 2015, inview of its global economic importance. Extreme environmental conditions,i.e.high temp. or drought, may affect photosynthetic activity. Photosynthesis is particularly sensitive to drought because the stomata close to conserve water due to stomatal dynamics to sustain the hydric status of the plants. Jatropha plantations are found to be prone to flooding and are vulnerable to drought in planting years. Therefore,the impact of epigenetics on Jatropha seedlings is assessed for its large-scale cultivation to enhance future plant production.

Chrysanthemum is the world’s second most important floriculture crop in India. The world trade in floriculture is over $ 100 billion and is growing at the rate of 15% per annum. The demand of Chrysanthemum in developed countries is more than 90% as one of the floriculture products. India’s floriculture industry is likely to enhance flower business upto Rs.8000 crore by the year 2015, since, it is growing at a compound annual growth rate of ca.30%. The Indian floriculture industry is poised at about Rs.3700 crore, with just 0.61% share in the global floriculture sector which is also likely to reach 0.89% by 2015 as ?50% area of floriculture is found in Karnataka, A.P., Tamilnadu, W.B., Maharashtra and Rajasthan. Induced mutation plays an important role in the genetic improvement of plants. The crops which do not produce any seed, mutation breeding is the only way to improve these crops. These mutants can be isolated through conventional method or chimera management techniques. The physical and chemical mutagens have been used successfully for induction of somatic mutations for flower colour, shape and size which can be exploited for improved breeding programs in future.

It is estimated that ca. 16% of the world’s agro-climatic areas are affected by waterlogging. It causes significant reduction in the yield of several crops. Jatropha curcas L. is a deciduous shrub, drought-resistant but prone to waterlogging, oil bearing plant species, widely distributed in tropical and sub-tropical areas viz., in Central and South America, Africa, India and Southeast Asia. The plant produces useful products particularly seeds from which oil can be extracted (~35%), may be used in soap and cosmetics industries, and also as an important substitute for diesel and kerosene. Accordingly, it is expected that by 2015, Jatropha may be planted on 12.8 mha land globally for blending of fossil diesel with biodiesel across the world under climate change to mitigate green house gases (GHGs). An improved carbon assimilation through photosynthesis to achieve enhanced net plant produce and oil content is the need of future. Therefore, an agro-profitable cultivation of Jatrpoha be recommended with careful crop management through precision irrigation in years to come to enhance plant performance and seed yield to sustain bio-fuel production, bio-refining and bio-economy

Finger millet (Eleusine coracana L.) is native to Ethiopian region of Africa. Some reports, however, indicate that the secondary centre of origin of this species is India or China. In India Finger millet is known as Ragi. The wide adaptability of the crop can be attributed to its C4 nature. It is rich in polyphenols and particular in calcium. Millets are important diet especially for pregnant women, nursing mother and children, daily consumption of millets reduces the incidence of cardiovascular disease; duodenal ulcer and hyperglycaemia (diabetes). It has been projected that global food production must increase by 70% by 2050 to meet the food and nutritional needs of a growing population, agriculture will need to enhance on productivity in a sustainable way, Therefore, an eco-friendly cultivation of Ragi be recommended with careful crop management through bio-fertilizers to enhance plant performance and seed yield to food security.

Plant performance and productivity is influenced by epigenetic variables, i.e. salinity, drought, heat, cold and flooding characteristics etc. of any agro-climatic zone. The economic development of any nation gets co-related with the suitability of available natural variables. The world agriculture is passing through a lot of challenges for planning to produce nearly 70% more food for an additional 2.3 billion people by 2050 (FAO,2009; Hasanuzzaman et al.,2013). The in-vivo quality control of photosynthetic apparatus may induce attributes for improving crop productivity (Singh et al., 2008). As, the major abiotic stresses such as salinity, drought, heat, cold and flooding etc. negatively influence plant growth, biomass production and yield of staple food crops up to 70% which threatens the food security worldwide. More than 45 mha irrigated land which accounts to 20% of the total land found to be affected by the salinity, and 1.5 mha becomes out of production each year due to high level of salinity (Munns and Tester 2008)across the globe. Soybean (Glycine max L.) is a species of legume native to Eastern Asia. An attempt has been made to revel influence of salinity on soybean.

Worldwide, mango fruit crop cultivation covered an area ca. 4946 thousand ha in 2010-11 & its production recorded 37 m tonnes. India occupies top position in the world, accounts ca. 40% of the total mango production. Mango processing occurs in India with the variety of fruit products starting from immature to ripe stages. Mango-peel waste may accounts ca. 25%. Presently, mango-peel waste gets dumped for field manure or as a stray cattle feed. It is excellent source of cellulose due to being ligno-cellulosic. An attempt has been made to use mango-peel waste for producing cellulases to be utilized in fruit-processing industry to enhance juice- clarity and quality. Hence, a potential utilization of mango-peel waste chosen as a substrate for producing enzymes, i.e. cellulases by using microbial system viz., Aspergillus niger. Thus, the proper utilization of mango-peel waste may result in high value added products, as reported in the book. A novel approach, as mentioned in the book may definitely prove to be an asset in resolving mango-peel solid -waste management, and also for quality juice-production from mango with improved agro-socio economy in times to come.

India has one of the largest tribal communities with about 68 million tribal people, belonging to 227 ethnic groups and 573 tribal communities living in different geographical locations throughout the country. WHO estimated that up to 84% of the world’s population uses traditional medicine for primary health care for diverse health practices, approaches, knowledge and beliefs incorporating plants, animals and/or mineral based medicines, spiritual therapies, manual techniques and exercises applied in isolation or in combination to sustain well-beingness. Ethnobotanical informations extend vital opportunities for the discovery of new biodynamic compounds for modern medicare support. Thus, ethnobotanical approaches significantly promote modern pharmaceutical drugs based on primary informations. However, advances in modern civilization have impaired old customs, beliefs, habits and rich oral tradition of medicine, food etc. Hence, effective measures are to be taken to record and document the valuable knowledge bank of the tribes to improve their on-site socio-economy in years to come. The present book is based on ethnobotanical informations used by the Tharu and Buksa tribes in India.

Jatropha curcas is a member of Euphorbiaceae, a multipurpose tree grows well under adverse climate in low to high rain fall areas (200-1500 mm y-1), but best in ~600 mmy-1 as a commercial crop. The epigenetic responses encounter morphological and physiological adjustments for plant performance and seed production. The potential seed yield are prone to vulnerable drought and waterlogging in Jatropha. Impact of epigenetics on Jatropha is presented in the book for precision cultivation to optimise plant performance and bio-fuel production for blending with fossil diesel to mitigate climate change. By 2015, expected to expand its cultivation on 12.8 mha worldwide. Though acclaimed widely for its oil, Jatropha never expressed its potential for oil productivity due to lack of moisture and nutrition. Its flowering frequency and season, male–female flower ratio dependent on soil fertility, soil water content, RH and temperature. In drier agro-climatic zones it exhibits only one major flowering flush while flowers episodically in humid areas. Hence, research inputs must be associated for its large scale cultivation to sustain bio-fuel production and future green energy.

Worldwide ~200 million people from 28 tropical countries passing through the risk from fluoride poisoning known as fluorosis. It is estimated that ca. 65% Indian villages are at high risk of fluoride. India, Pakistan, China, Sri Lanka, Thailand, West Africa, Southern Africa, Estonia and Mexico are prone for ground water fluoride contamination. India has lowered its permissible upper limit from 1.5-1 mg/l and China has adopted the same, as it prevents dental caries. Nearly 99% of the total body burden of fluoride is retained in bones and teeth. It also gets concentrated in kidney and blood plasma cells. USDA has unapproved fluoride as an ingredient. About 95% of fluoride deposited in soil surface, unavailable to plants while, atmospheric fluoride enters in the cells through stomatal diffusion, becomes a great concern globally for herbivores and other consumers in the nature. Till date, three major anthropogenic sources of fluoride identified, i.e. phosphate fertilizer, combusted coal and industrial waste with phosphate to pollute soil and water. The excess fluoride may affect nearby ecosystem and their inhabitants in times to come with impaired plant performance and carbon-economy.